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Rogers Media

1925

In August, the first appearance of the name Rogers on the Canadian broadcasting scene came with the introduction of the Rogers Batteryless Radio at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. The break-through invention was powered by alternating current (A.C.), thanks to the new tubes that Edward S. (Ted) Rogers had invented, which did not need batteries, and which eliminated the severe hum that had previously been triggered by the use of alternating current. The development of the new receiver had been financed by Edward's father Albert's holding company, Standard Radio Manufacturing Corporation Ltd. (Standard).

1927

Standard obtained an experimental license for "9RB". Using the tubes that he had developed, Ted Rogers built the world's first radio broadcasting transmitter operating from power lines, without batteries and motorized D.C. converters. On February 19, 1927, 9RB became CFRB ("RB" for Rogers Batteryless), broadcasting on 1030 kHz with 1,000 watts. It was operated by Rogers Radio Broadcasting Company.

When Ted Rogers died in 1939, his son Ted Jnr. was not yet six years old. The early involvement of the Rogers family in Canadian broadcasting, and specifically CFRB, would however continue until 1946, when Ted Rogers Snr.'s widow Velma sold her shares in Standard Radio Limited, by then the parent company of Rogers Radio Broadcasting Co. Ltd. It would be another sixteen years before a Rogers would re-emerge as the owner of a Canadian broadcasting station, though he was never to be successful in regaining ownership of the station his father had founded.

1960

After graduating from Upper Canada College, Ted Rogers Jnr. earned a B.A. at the University of Toronto in 1956. He then began studying for a law degree at Osgoode Hall, but broadcasting was obviously in his blood and, while still a student, he and partner Joel Aldred raised an $85,000 loan to buy radio station CHFI-FM Toronto from James Piggott. Also during the year, Aldred and Rogers together acquired a 30% position in Baton-Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting Ltd., the company that competed for and was granted the licence for Toronto's first private television station CFTO-TV.

1961

In October, CHFI-FM began broadcasting in stereo, the first Canadian FM radio station to do so. In the same month, the CTV Network began providing a national service to its affiliates, which included CFTO-TV.

1962

Early in the year, Ted Rogers bought out his partner Joel Aldred and the corporate name of the company became CHFI-FM Limited. On August 8th, CHFI-FM launched an AM partner station, CHFI-AM, which simulcast the programming of its FM associate, initially only during daylight hours.

1963

Ted Rogers changed the company's corporate name to Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. In October, approval was received for CHFI-AM to expand its broadcasting to include night-time hours.

1967

While he would go on to make more radio and television station acquisitions down the road, Ted Rogers was once again quick off the mark in recognizing the enormous potential for cable television in Canada. He founded Rogers Cable TV, and his first acquisition was a system of 300 subscribers in the Greater Toronto area, Bramalea Telecable. The same year, he acquired cable licences for Brampton, Leamington and part of Toronto.

Later, Rogers got back into the radio business again by buying CHIQ-AM Hamilton from CHIQ Ltd.( J. Irving Zucker and Jack Schoone). The call letters were changed to CHAM-AM.

1968

Rogers added to his Leamington holdings by acquiring radio stations CHRY-AM and CHIR-AM from Sun Parlor Broadcasting.

Rogers Cable launched its first Community Channel.

1971

On June 21st, which would have been Ted Rogers Senior's 71st birthday, CHFI-AM's call letters were changed to CFTR-AM in his honour.

1976

The call letters for CHAM-AM Hamilton were changed in October from CHAM to CJJD, as plans were in the works for the station to be acquired by Keith J. Dancy, President of Rogers Radio Ltd.

1977

Keith Dancy became a director of Rogers Radio and general manager of CJJD. He had joined Rogers Broadcasting in 1970 and was appointed president of Rogers Radio in 1975.

A numbered company formed by Keith J. Dancy received approval to acquire CJJD Hamilton from Rogers Radio Ltd. Rogers Management Services Ltd. received permission to purchase CKJD Sarnia and CHYR Leamington from Dancy Broadcasting Ltd. Dancy established the Sarnia station in 1968 and tried to buy the Hamilton station in 1970 but the CRTC said no. With the purchase of CJJD, Dancy left Rogers Radio Ltd. He was replaced by Jim Sward. Dancy took ownership of CJJD on September 1.

Rogers became a public company, and the biggest cable company in Canada, with the acquisition of Canadian Cable Systems Ltd.

1980

Sarnia's first commercial FM station was licensed to Rogers Radio Broadcasting Ltd., owner of CKJD-AM. It would have the callsign CJFI-FM.

1981

CJFI-FM Sarnia began broadcasting on September 14. Studios and offices were co-located with CKJD-AM at 546 North Christina Street.

While expanding in the radio field, Rogers continued to get involved in new cable ventures. During the year, the company acquired U.S. cable franchises in Orange County, Calif., Minneapolis, Portland and San Antonio.

1986

On June 19th, the CRTC approved Rogers' application to acquire Multilingual Television (Toronto) Limited (MTV), licensee of CFMT-TV Toronto, the only full-time ethnic television station in Canada. It was a condition of approval that the status of CFMT-TV as an ethnic television station be maintained.

Ted Rogers formed Rogers Communications Ltd. as the parent company for his various operating divisions.

1987

Approval was granted July 16 for Rogers to sell CJFI / CKJD Sarnia, along with CHYR / CHYR-7 Leamington to Blue Water Broadcasting Ltd. (67% owned by Eastern Broadcasting, 24% by Don Chamberlain and 9% by Gerald Kennedy). Eastern was 90% owned by Maritime Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Maclean-Hunter Limited./

1989

On September 28th, the CRTC approved Rogers' application to acquire several former Selkirk stations that had earlier in the year been sold to Maclean Hunter. These were CFAC Calgary, and CFHC Canmore/CFHC-1 Banff, Alberta; CJOC and CILA-FM Lethbridge and CJPR Blairmore, Alberta, plus its rebroadcaster CJEV Elkford, British Columbia; CJIB Vernon, British Columbia; CFGP Grande Prairie, Alberta; and CJVI (later CHTT) Victoria, CKWX and its rebroadcaster CKFX-SW, and CKKS-FM and CKWX-FM Vancouver. In addition, Rogers acquired several Mountain FM Radio properties that had also gone the Selkirk/Maclean Hunter route, namely CISQ-FM Squamish and its rebroadcasting stations CISW-FM Whistler, CISP-FM Pemberton, CISC-FM Gibsons, CISE-FM Sechelt, CIPN-FM Pender Harbour and CIEG-FM Egmont, British Columbia.

In the television field, Rogers acquired ownership of The Canadian Home Shopping Network, and renamed it The Shopping Channel.

1992

On August 20th, Rogers received CRTC approval for them to acquire radio stations CHFM-FM Calgary and its rebroadcaster CHFM-FM-1 Banff, and CKY-AM and CITI-FM Winnipeg, all from Moffat Communications.

1993

On February 10, CFMT-TV was given permission to add a transmitter, CFTM-TV-1, at London, operating on channel 69.

1994

On December 19th, Rogers Communications Limited received CRTC approval to acquire effective control of Maclean Hunter Limited. In addition to M-H's substantial Ontario publishing and cable holdings, Rogers acquired several broadcasting assets to be controlled by Rogers Broadcasting Limited, including 21 radio stations in Ontario and the Maritimes, plus CFCN-TV Calgary and CFCN-TV-5 Lethbridge. It was a condition of the Commission's approval that Rogers would within twelve months apply to transfer effective control of the Calgary and Lethbridge television stations to a third party, and would likewise divest itself of MHL's indirect 14.3% shareholding in the CTV network.

Rogers retained ownership of CKBY-FM and CIWW-AM Ottawa, and CKGL-FM and CHYM-FM Kitchener-Waterloo, as well as a 60% interest in the Country Network specialty channel.

1995

On August 21, the CRTC approved a two-stage intra-corporate re-organization of Capital Broadcasting, owner of CFMS and CKDA, Victoria B.C. Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. would own CFMS-FM while O.K. Radio Group Ltd. would own CKDA-AM. Rogers already owned CJVI-AM while O.K. owned CKKQ-FM. These sales were completed September 1. CFMS left the air, returning on December 11 as CIOC-FM – "The Ocean".

1997

On September 4th, 1996, the CRTC granted a specialty channel licence for Outdoor Life Canada to a group formed by Baton Broadcasting, Ralph Ellis, Rogers Broadcasting and Outdoor Life USA. The channel began broadcasting on October 9th 1997. Rogers held a 29.9% position in the consortium.

1999

On July 2, the sale of Ottawa station CHEZ-FM Inc. and CJET / CFMO-FM Smith's Falls by Harvey Glatt to Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. was approved by the CRTC.

On September 10th, the CRTC announced that it had approved a transfer of the ownership and control of 578223 British Columbia Ltd. (Fraser Newco) to Rogers Broadcasting Limited. Fraser Newco was the licensee of CHWK-AM Chilliwack, CKGO-AM Hope and its transmitter CKGO-FM-1 Boston Bar, CKMA Abbotsford, CKSR-FM Chilliwack and its transmitters CFSR-FM Mount Seymour and CFSR-FM-1 Abbotsford.

At the same time, the Commission announced that it had approved the transfer to Rogers of control of Rawlco (Alberta) Ltd., licensee of radio programming undertakings CFFR and CKIS-FM Calgary and its transmitters CKIS-FM-1 Banff, CKIS-FM-2 Lake Louise and CKIS-FM-3 Invermere, and of Rawlco (Toronto) Ltd., licensee of radio programming undertaking CISS-FM Toronto.

2000

On December 14th, a company formed jointly by Rogers Broadcasting, Shaw Communications and A & E Canada received approval from the CRTC for a new specialty channel, to be named The Biography Channel.

2001

Rogers Broadcasting was granted a specialty licence in November 2000 for a channel to be called Tech TV Canada, which would "provide lifestyle information for the ‘e generation', with programming devoted to computers, technology and the Internet." It launched under that name in September 2001; Rogers were partnered in the venture by Shaw Communications and the U.S. Tech TV Channel.

On October 1st, Rogers received CRTC approval for the company to acquire ownership of what at the time was CTVSportsnet, which CTV had launched in 1998. On acquiring Netstar in 2000, CTV was required by the CRTC to divest itself of either Netstar's TSN or their own Sportsnet, and they elected to sell the latter to Rogers.

2002

On April 8th, Rogers received approval to launch a second ethnic Toronto station, which at the time was described as CFTM TOO. Rogers later renamed the new station CJMT-TV OMNI 2, which signed on the air September 16. A short time later, CFMT-TV channel 47 became known as OMNI 1.

On April 19th, the CRTC announced that it had approved an application by Rogers to acquire 14 radio stations from Standard Radio, plus the radio Prime Time Sports Network.

The radio stations were CKAT-AM, CKFX-FM and CHUR-FM North Bay, CICX-FM Orillia, CHAS-FM, CJQM-FM and CIRS-AM Sault St. Marie, CIGM-AM, CJRQ-FM and CJMX-FM Sudbury, CKGB-FM and CJQQ-FM Timmins, and CJCL-AM and CJCL-DR-2 (digital) Toronto.

2004

On January 9, at 12 noon, Rogers station CKBY-FM Ottawa 105.3 (Y105) moved its country format to 101.1 Smiths Falls, as Y101. The station's former105.3 frequency in Ottawa became CISS-FM (Kiss 105.3).

In May, Rogers' specialty channel Tech TV was rebranded as G4TechTV.

On November 26, Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. was awarded licences for new FM News/Talk stations at Halifax, Moncton and Saint John. The Halifax transmitter would operate on 95.7 MHz with an effective radiated power of 22,100 watts. All three stations would share live broadcasts.

2005

On May 19, CFMT was authorized to add a transitional digital television programming undertaking in Ottawa, CFMT-TV-2, operating on channel 27C. On October 11 at 5:30 a.m., the new Rogers FM News/Talk stations CJNI-FM Halifax, CKNI-FM Moncton and CHNI-FM Saint John officially signed on the air.

2006

On June 1st, Rogers Broadcasting Limited received CRTC approval to acquire all the shares of Biography Inc., held directly and indirectly by Shaw Communications Inc. and A&E Canada. Rogers thereby became the sole owner of the Biography Channel.

On November 29, Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. received approval to acquire the Alberta stations owned by O.K. Radio Group Ltd. The stations were CHDI-FM and CKER-FM Edmonton, CJOK-FM and CKYX-FM Fort McMurray (and CJOK-FM-1 Tar Island), and CFGP-FM Grande Prairie (with CFGP-FM-1 Peace River and CFGP-FM-2 Tumbler Ridge).

2007

On June 8 the CRTC approved the acquisition of CHUM Ltd. by CTVglobemedia, on condition that CTV sell off its five City-TV stations, CITY-TV Toronto, CHMI-TV Portage La Prairie/Winnipeg, CKEM-TV Edmonton, CKAL-TV Calgary and CKVU-TV Vancouver. Rogers Communications announced on June 25th that a deal had been reached for them to buy these stations from CTV, subject to CRTC approval.

On September 28th, the CRTC approved Rogers' acquisition of the five CITY-TV stations.

On December 24, the CRTC approved applications by Rogers Broadcasting Limited, on behalf of itself and Larche Communications (Kitchener) Inc., for authority to exchange the assets of CICX-FM Orillia and CIKZ-FM Kitchener. Rogers was the current licensee of CICX-FM Orillia and a minority shareholder of Larche. Larche was the current licensee of CIKZ-FM Kitchener.

2008

Rogers having received approval from the CRTC in 2007 for a new FM station in Medicine Hat, CKMH-FM (Rock 105.3) signed on the air at 1:05:30 p.m. on February 25.

On July 7th, the CRTC approved an application by Rogers that would allow them to acquire 100% ownership of the Outdoor Life Network specialty channel, by buying out all the outstanding shares held by CTVglobemedia (formerly Baton Broadcasting) and Versus, the then current owners of the Outdoor Life Channel US.

Rogers received CRTC approval for a new specialty channel to be called Baseball-TV. Rogers undertook that not more than 10% of its schedule would consist of live major league baseball coverage.

On December 10th the CRTC approved Rogers' application for a new specialty channel, CITY News (Toronto), which would serve the Greater Toronto area.

2009

On May 4th, the Commission approved an application by Rogers Broadcasting Limited for authority to acquire from K-Rock 1057 Inc. the assets of the FM radio stations CIKR-FM and CKXC-FM Kingston.

On June 5 at 3:00 p.m. CJAQ-FM Toronto became CKIS-FM (Kiss 92.5). The call letters were swapped with Rogers-owned CKIS-FM Calgary which now became CJAQ-FM.

2010

On January 19th, Rogers announced that there would be substantial CITY-TV staff cuts in Toronto and several other markets, with the noon and 5pm newscasts being dropped.

In announcing the cuts. Rogers Media Television CEO Leslie Sole said:"Today's changes, although difficult, are necessary to align our operations with the economic and regulatory realities of our industry".

On March 22nd, the CRTC published its Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-167, being its decisions regarding a group-based approach to the licensing of private television services, following the receipt of input from all interested parties.

On August 9th, the CRTC announced administrative renewals of all the broadcasting licences held by CTVglobemedia, CanWest and Rogers, which would now expire at various dates in 2011 and 2012.

In making the announcement, the Commission said that this would enable them to consider the renewal of the major large English-language private conventional television ownership groups by taking into account the determinations in the aforesaid Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2010-167.

It would also permit the Commission to consider the further renewal of community-based television programming undertakings by taking into account the determinations resulting from the review of the community television policy framework announced in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2009-661.

2011

On July 27th, the CRTC announced the renewal of the broadcasting licences for the various television services affiliated with the Rogers Media Inc. (Rogers Media) ownership group from 1 September 2011 to 31 August 2014. In so doing, the Commission said that this short-term renewal would permit the Commission to reassess the applicability of the group-based policy and Rogers Media’s commitments to spending on Canadian programming and programs of national interest.

In announcing this decision, the Commission said that it was implementing its new group-based licensing policy for large private English-language ownership groups. This policy was developed to prepare both the broadcasting industry and the Commission for the new reality of large, integrated broadcasting ownership groups. Under this policy, the Commission would reduce its focus on Canadian exhibition and concentrate to a greater extent on ensuring stable funding to Canadian production through programming expenditure requirements, particularly in regard to programming that continued to be under-represented in the Canadian broadcasting system. In addition, the Commission said it had also introduced a much greater level of flexibility in the manner in which television services would make and account for Canadian programming expenditures.

2014

In Decision 2014-399 dated July 31st 2014, the CRTC announced that it had determined that Rogers Media Inc. (Rogers) had met the requirements to be considered a designated group for the purposes of the group-based approach set out in "A group-based approach to the licensing of private television services", Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-167, 22 March 2010.

With respect to the “City” television stations, the Commission renewed, under its group-based approach, the broadcasting licences for the English-language conventional television stations CJNT-DT Montréal; CITY-DT Toronto and its transmitters CITY-DT-2 Woodstock and CITY-DT-3 Ottawa; CHMI-DT Portage La Prairie/Winnipeg; CKAL-DT Calgary and its transmitter CKAL-DT-1 Lethbridge; CKEM-DT Edmonton and its transmitter CKEM-TV-1 Red Deer; and CKVU-DT Vancouver and its transmitters CKVU-TV-1 Courtenay and CKVU-DT-2 Victoria, from 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2016.

The Commission also renewed, under its group-based approach, the broadcasting licences for the national, English-language specialty Category A services The Biography Channel, G4TechTV, Outdoor Life Network and Sportsnet 360, from 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2016.

In addition, the Commission renewed the broadcasting licences for the national, English-language specialty Category B service Sportsnet World and the national, English-language specialty Category C service Sportsnet, from 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2016.

Finally, with respect to the “OMNI” stations, as agreed to by the applicant, effective 1 September 2014, the Commission revoked the broadcasting licences for the multi-ethnic and multilingual conventional OMNI television stations CFMT-DT Toronto (OMNI.1) and its transmitters CFMT-DT-1 London and CFMT-DT-2 Ottawa; CJMT-DT Toronto (OMNI.2) and its transmitters CJMT-DT-1 London and CJMT-DT-2 Ottawa; CJCO-DT Calgary (OMNI AB); CJEO-DT Edmonton (OMNI AB); and CHNM-DT Vancouver (OMNI BC) and its transmitter CHNM-DT-1 Victoria. The Commission said it would issue new broadcasting licences for these undertakings, which would take effect 1 September 2014 and expire 31 August 2016. This would have the effect of aligning the OMNI stations with a two-year renewal cycle along with other Rogers properties.

The two-year licence terms granted for each of the above-noted services would allow the Commission to carry out in 2016 a thorough review of the group-based approach, and to align the renewal of the broadcasting licences for Rogers’ television stations and services with those of the other large private English-language ownership groups

2017

By Decision 2017-151 dated May 15th 2017, the CRTC renewed the broadcasting licences for the currently licensed television stations and discretionary services that would form part of the Rogers Media Inc. Group in the new licence term, from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2022.Further, the Commission renewed the broadcasting licences for the mainstream sports services Sportsnet and Sportsnet One, and the on-demand service Rogers on Demand, from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2022.In addition, the Commission renewed the television network licence for the program Hockey Night in Canada, from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2022. To coincide with the expiry date of the broadcasting licence granted to Rogers Media Inc. in Broadcasting Decision 2017-152, also published on May 15th 2017, to operate the national, multilingual multi-ethnic discretionary service OMNI Regional, the Commission renewed the broadcasting licences for the OMNI television stations from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2020.

In a surprise move, on August 14th, the Governor in Council, on the advice of the Honorable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, with support of Cabinet, referred back for reconsideration and hearing the Broadcasting Decisions CRTC 2017-143 to 2017-147 (renewing licenses for television services of major French-language ownership groups) and CRTC 2017-148 to 2017-151 (renewing licenses for television services of major English-language ownership groups) of May 15, 2017.The Minister made this statement:“Canadian broadcasters and creators are at the centre of the broadcasting system, and at a time when our competitive advantage rests on creativity, they must be positioned to succeed.The Government of Canada recognizes the significant investments Canadian broadcasters make in Canadian content. At the same time, the entire industry is in transition and the next few years will be critical to establishing the conditions for Canadians to be able to compete with the best in the world.During this period of transition across the industry, original Canadian content and a dynamic creative sector are vital to the sector’s competitiveness, and its contribution to the Canadian economy.We are asking the CRTC to reconsider these decisions in order to ensure that we achieve the right balance of investment in content and in the ability to compete.In referring back these decisions, the Government wishes to affirm its support for great Canadian dramas, comedies, animation, films, documentaries — and other programs of national interest — that reflect our country and its diversity. It also recognizes the importance of original French-language content and support for the creators of music programming, short films and short-form documentaries.As we look to the future of Canadian content, we must be bold. That’s why, this fall, I will present a vision that supports our cultural industries through this transformation and will bring us in line with the changing digital environment.”In an interview, Madame Joly said that the Government had received 89 petitions asking that the CRTC decision, which was felt by many of those petitioning to have the potential for a negative effect on the amount of money to be spent by the licensees on Canadian programming, be referred back for

It was announced in December that Alan Horn would step down as chair of the board of Rogers Communications Inc. effective January 1. He would remain on the RCI Board. Deputy chair Edward Rogers would become chair and Melinda Rogers would assume the role of deputy chair.

2018

On August 30 the CRTC announced that it had responded to the government’s Order-in-Council to reconsider its decisions regarding large television groups by imposing conditions of licence on them to ensure the continued support of the Canadian creative sector. The government asked the CRTC to re-examine original Canadian French-language programs, programs of national interest in the English-language market and short-form programming, including music. These changes were made to preserve the viability, stability and competitiveness of the creative sector and the Canadian television market.

For the French-language market, the CRTC now required each group to make significant investments in the creation of French-language programs, representing 75% of its Canadian programming expenditures for original French-language programs starting in 2019-2020. The percentage in 2018-2019 would be 50%, which would enable the groups to adjust to the new requirements and ensure sufficient support for the production of original French-language content for the French-language market.

The CRTC also increased expenditure requirements for programs of national interest in the English-language market. The percentage would now be based on historical expenditures, to ensure sufficient investment in the production of these programs and financial contributions according to each group’s financial resources. Therefore, the requirements were increased from 5% to 7.5% of previous years’ revenues for Bell, and from 5% to 8.5% for Corus, while requirements for Rogers remained at 5%. The CRTC believed that this approach would ensure that the Canadian production sector continued to play an essential role in the Canadian economy and offer high-quality content to viewers in Canada and abroad.

The CRTC determined that the groups in both language markets would be required to allocate an average of $5.5 million per year to support the production of musical programs (FACTOR and MUSICACTION). These expenditures would be imposed from 2019 to 2022, and would ensure regulatory uniformity among the groups.